[RR:Damian Wayne] Week 14: Leviathan Strikes! [8/24-9/6]

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Hello again @RenegadeRobinsClub! Hope you’re all safe and healthy. We are continuing our look at Batman, Inc. Volume One. (We will take a look at Vol. Two once we crossover into N52 territory and reach it.) So lets get started shall we.

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Seems Damian and company have their hands full doesn’t it.

This weeks issues

Discussion

Drop your comments below on what you think of the story so far. Anything about the story appeal to you? What where the things you liked most? What did you dislike? I’d love to hear your thoughts and if you would like we can even talk about all of these Batman, Inc issues we’ve covered this month.

  • Next time at RR:RH finds Jason and his band of Outlaws (along with some “friends”) facing off against the Joker in “Death of the Family”.

  • Whilst at RR:DW- OG Batman may be going international but Gotham still needs its hero. Batman and Robin face off against the White Knight in “Dark Knight vs White Knight”.

See ya next time!

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To start things off I want to say I really disliked that the N52 came along when it did and caused Morrison to have to change aspects of this story (as we shall see later on) from what he may have been intending. I may not be his biggest fan but I honestly felt the situation he was in here sucked. People liked to claim that Morrison had enough clout at DC that he was allowed to do anything he wanted but the fact that he had to abide by certain aspects of the N52 reboot made me wonder just how true that claim actually was.

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I was just about to say the same thing. I wish that he had been allowed to continue his own story indefinitely while the New 52 reset things to the c. 1970 status quo (when Dick Grayson had just moved out and left for college).

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They could have very easily just let Morrison finish his story as he originally intended. They did allow for the publishing of the original issues #9 and #10 as Batman, Inc: Leviathan Strikes which I decided to include here because they fit more into the pre-FP era but then after that he basically had to abide by the changes the N52 created.

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That decision ends up impacting Damian in both a positive way and a negative one. On the positive side, there’s no doubt that he would no longer exist in the main timeline if DC hadn’t forced Morrison to integrate his story into the main continuity. On the negative side, Damian’s backstory becomes way too convoluted in order to fit with the new timeline, and he’s largely irrelevant to the New 52 books outside of the second volumes of Incorporated and Batman & Robin.

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That’s for danged sure. [quote=“AlexanderKnox, post:5, topic:1316665”]
On the positive side, there’s no doubt that he would no longer exist in the main timeline if DC hadn’t forced Morrison to integrate his story into the main continuity.
[/quote]

That could very well be true. If he was dead why bother to transition him. plus Morrison may not have allowed for continued use of his creation beyond his own story of that universe no longer was relevant.

There is that. Everyone suffered from this to a certain extent but cramming Damian into the whole “five year timeline” really didn’t work. I would even argue that neither Tim nor Jason really work in that situation.

And you are correct that Damian is pretty irrelevant in The N52 as far as Synder’s Batman is concerned. I know Snyder had an aversion to writing him in his Batman run although I do suspect that the inital reason he was pretty much absent from that book had more to do with Morrison 's plans than anything else.

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Also a suggestion has been made that you might also want to check out Batgirl (2009) # 16-22 because it sets up Steph’s part in Leviathan Strikes. Thank you @fishin4bass.66054 for the suggestion.

So if anyone wants to discuss those issues feel free.

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I think the batgirl tie in starts around 22, I was just estimating earlier however issue 17 does have a Damian team up that’s really good. I think batgirl (Stephanie Brown) and Damian have good chemistry and make good stories that are very much like super sons.

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I do love their interactions a lot.

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So I just read it and had a few questions.

So who died? they say that members of his bat team died but we never see them die. I’m pretty sure batwing doesn’t die because he’s in the new 52.

So from my understanding the scene with Batman in the sub was basically all a hallucination? It was very confusing to me. I hate how grant Morrison has to constantly make his stories so incoherent.

To me this was just a set up to his new 52 batman inc series. Honestly the more I read grant Morrison the less I like. His seven soliders series was great but after that it seems like all his stories are all the same, a bunch of incoherent meta hallucinations. Just tell us a coherent story and quit trying to be David Lynch. I feel Morrison’s endings never land either.

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Not exactly. The New 52 Batman Incorporated series was the second half of the story that he would have told anyway if the reboot had never happened.

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The Batwing in this is not exactly the same character as the N52 one. When the N52 reboot happened his character history and background were altered.

I believe they’re referring to the ‘death’ of Mr. Unknown at the hands of Lord Death Man. That’s the only one I can think of off the top of my head.

I have that exact problem with Morrison’s work as well. I enjoyed his Batman and Robin run a lot but the bulk of his Batman work just felt like one big mess to me. About the only thing I did like was the way he was able to bring parts of Batman’s long history to the forefront and make them a real part of his history again.

Yep. And Batman: Leviathan Strikes was actually originally was supposed to be published as issues #9 and #10 of this story but the N52 reboot delayed both issues so they were published together in one issue that was meant to bridge vol. 1 and 2.

@AlexanderKnox. Also I just realised that Mr. Nobody was named Jiro. So not only is Morrison using a villain from the Batmanga but he also seems to be referencing the writer of it: Jiro Kuwata (or Kuwata Jiro since the Japanese use last name first.) All this time and I just now noticed that.

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That’s what I mean, it a set up to the other Batman inc books.

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Well in the scene where Batman is talking to Dr. Dedalus he was saying every 5 mins a member of Batman inc dies and every 5 mins we saw on the countdown clock We would hear him say that another member died and we would see different members, like one time we see batwing in trouble and the scene just ends. I don’t know what was real and what was hallucination though. Damn morrison and his confusing writing.

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Some really great stuff here. Issue 5 was very intriguing with some great little character moments, like Kate thanking Bruce for saving and inspiring her.

Six was more stand alone, establishing some of the other characters in the world like Cassandra Cain. The moment where Bruce turns internet troll to sway people away from his secret identity is genius.

Seven I honestly think is one of my favorite of this series, because it feels more smaller and personal. I could totally read a bigger story of Man of Bats & Red Raven.

Eight was…okay, but hampered by art that…okay, I get that they want to do all digital/3D art for a story that is all digital, but MAN it just looks rough.

The first story of Leviathan Strikes is very fun, a great showcase of Stephanie Brown. While the art is solid, considering the subject matter and what was found out about Cameron Stewart last year, it feels a tad icky.

The second story, while complex, I thought made sense in the end. Batman and co were dealing with a gas that caused the mind to lose or unable to keep memories, like Altziemers, and while the villain is super sure of himself that he’s killing all these agents, none of them die because Batman’s agents are better than him.

It is kind of interesting to compare the end of the story with Damian killing Doctor Deatus or whatever-his-name-is…Nazi Guy. I’m gonna call him Nazi Guy. Anyway. It’s interesting comparing this story to what happens at the end of Tomasi’s first arc of Batman & Robin, because publication wise, Leviathan Strikes was released in December 2011, while issues 7/8 of B&R were in March/April of 2012, so it’s funny that they make a big deal of Damian killing Nobody when technically he already has, also to protect his father.

I’m not going to try to figure out how the continuity works, because figuring out superhero comic book continuity is a road fraught with madness even without reboots to consider.

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I’m not the only one to call him that then. Sweetness.

This is exactly why I never bother trying to untangle comic continuity. Doubly so whenever some sort of reset or reboot happens. It’s really an exercise in futility.